Ask Timpo: is fiddling expenses a sackable offence?
Q: Is fiddling expenses – even for a £50 lunch – a sackable offence? There’s no evidence the employee in question has done this before.
"Fiddling expenses is cheating"
says John Timpson
A: Fiddling expenses is fraudulent, dishonest, and straightforward cheating. It is, therefore, gross misconduct and a sackable offence. But that doesn’t mean you can fire someone for falsely claiming £50 and be certain to win at a future tribunal.
Some aggrieved employees will claim that dismissal is a disproportionate punishment for such a trivial offence. Others will complain if you failed to spell out in detail the expenses that can, and cannot, be reimbursed.
I like the guideline that states “Only submit an expense form that you are happy to display on the company noticeboard”. But that common-sense approach does not appeal to the legal box-tickers.
I’m still smarting from the guy who claimed for the cost of three lap dances. He took us to a tribunal for wrongful dismissal because claims for such live entertainment were not specifically banned in our expense guidelines. It cost us £40,000.
Picture: source